Mornings on the Mall 12.12.17

Mark Krikorian, Jim Antle, Dan Bongino, Tina Brown, Larry Kudlow and guest co-host Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C   NY ATTACK UPDATE:

• White House says Trump immigration policies could have thwarted New York attack. White House says Trump immigration policies could have thwarted New York attack. The White House on Monday announced that if President Donald Trump’s immigration policies against chain migration had been enacted, Monday’s attack at the New York City Port Authority could have been avoided. Law enforcement identified 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, a Brooklyn resident of Bangladeshi descent, as the suspect in the incident. Ullah partially detonated an improvised explosive device underground near a Port Authority bus terminal.
• Akayed Ullah, 27, detonated a pipe bomb strapped to his body in the heart of Manhattan’s busiest subway corridor on Monday, sending thousands of terrified commuters fleeing the smoke-choked passageways, and bringing the heart of Midtown to a standstill as hundreds of police officers converged on Times Square and the surrounding streets. But the makeshift weapon failed to fully detonate, and the attacker himself was the only one seriously injured in the blast, which unfolded just before 7:20 a.m.
• War on Christmas
• ISIS-inspired
• Chain migration (2011)
• Diversity lottery
• 5-inch metal pipe bomb, with a battery, tied with velcro & zip ties
• Heroic officers pinned NYC terror suspect to the ground and removed bomb, official says
• Family of Port Authority bombing suspect is ‘outraged’ at investigators’ tactics
• Statement from President Donald J. Trump Regarding Today’s Attack in New York City:  Today’s attempted mass murder attack in New York City—the second terror attack in New York in the last two months—once again highlights the urgent need for Congress to enact legislative reforms to protect the American people.     First and foremost, as I have been saying since I first announced my candidacy for President, America must fix its lax immigration system, which allows far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country.  Today’s terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security.  My Executive action to restrict the entry of certain nationals from eight countries, which the Supreme Court recently allowed to take effect, is just one step forward in securing our immigration system.  Congress must end chain migration.  Congress must also act on my Administration’s other proposals to enhance domestic security, including increasing the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, enhancing the arrest and detention authorities for immigration officers, and ending fraud and abuse in our immigration system.  The terrible harm that this flawed system inflicts on America’s security and economy has long been clear.  I am determined to improve our immigration system to put our country and our people first. Second, those convicted of engaging in acts of terror deserve the strongest penalty allowed by law, including the death penalty in appropriate cases.  America should always stand firm against terrorism and extremism, ensuring that our great institutions can address all evil acts of terror.

5am – D/E     ROY MOORE / ALABAMA UPDATE:

• Fox News poll: Roy Moore trails Doug Jones by 10 points one day before Alabama Senate election. In a recent Fox News poll, Alabama Senate Republican candidate Roy Moore trails his Democratic rival Doug Jones by 10 points among likely voters. The special election takes place Tuesday.  The poll — conducted Thursday through Sunday — found that 50 percent of likely voters said they would support Jones, while 40 percent said they would support Moore. Another 2 percent said they would support a different candidate while 8 percent said they remain unsure.         

6am – A/B     Ex-aide: Rep. Trent Franks offered $5 million to carry his child. The Associated Press verified the identity of the staffer and confirmed that she worked in Franks’ office. She asked that her name be withheld out of concern for her privacy. “During my time there, I was asked a few times to look over a ‘contract’ to carry his child, and if I would conceive his child, I would be given $5 million,” she said, adding that she refused to look over the contract and has never seen a copy. The woman said the requests shocked her, and made her feel afraid that if she didn’t agree, she would face professional consequences. She said she spoke to another aide in the office, who had also been approached about surrogacy.

6am – C         Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker fired for alleged ‘improper sexual conduct’. The New Yorker magazine, one of the media outlets that has led the way in exposing sexual misconduct by prominent men, severed ties with its leading Washington reporter, Ryan Lizza, on Monday after what the magazine called “improper sexual conduct.” But Lizza vigorously denied the allegation, saying in a statement that the decision to terminate him was “a terrible mistake.” Nevertheless, Lizza became the latest media figure to have allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct. The list includes “Today” show host Matt Lauer, CBS “This Morning” host Charlie Rose, NBC News commentator Mark Halperin, NPR editor Michael Oreskes, public-radio host Tom Ashbrook, New York Times White House reporter Glenn Thrush and Fox News’ Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly. In a statement issued Monday afternoon, a New Yorker spokeswoman said: “The New Yorker recently learned that Ryan Lizza engaged in what we believe was improper sexual conduct. We have reviewed the matter and, as a result, have severed ties with Lizza. Due to a request for privacy, we are not commenting further.”

6am – D         INTERVIEW – MARK KRIKORIAN  –  a nationally recognized expert on immigration issues, has served as Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)

• White House says Trump immigration policies could have thwarted New York attack

6am – E         TRUMP ACCUSERS:

• Women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct seek congressional probe. NEW YORK (Reuters) – Three women who have accused U.S. President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct called on Monday for a congressional investigation into his behavior amid a wave of similar accusations against prominent men in Hollywood, the media and politics. Over the past two years, more than a dozen women have accused Trump of making unwanted sexual advances against them years before he entered politics. Three of his accusers, Jessica Leeds, Rachel Crooks, and Samantha Holvey said at a news conference on Monday that the accusations warranted new consideration given the broader discussion of sexual harassment in U.S. society.
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called for President Trump to “immediately resign” over allegations of sexual harassment and abuse
• Sarah Sanders: The President has denied all of these allegations. And this took place long before he was elected to be president.
• Megyn Kelly Features the Stories of Three Trump Accusers

6am – F         CNN determined to turn Trump’s Diet Coke consumption into constitutional crisis.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – JIM ANTLE – The Washington Examiner’s politics editor – previewed the Alabama election today.

• Win or lose, Roy Moore could spell trouble for Trump and Republicans. (by W. James Antle III) — Republicans are bracing themselves for Tuesday’s special election for Senate in Alabama, where President Trump has gambled heavily on a victory for Republican Roy Moore in a race where either outcome has major pitfalls for his party. “When it comes to 2018,” one Republican strategist said, “this could really be a lose-lose situation.” If Moore loses, it will tell Democrats no area is too red to contest in next year’s midterm elections and boost their candidate recruitment. If Moore wins after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving girls as young as 14 when he was in his 30s, it could further tarnish the GOP brand among women and college-educated suburban voters, especially after Democrats took steps to purge high-profile sexual harassers from the congressional ranks.

7am – B         Wife of demoted DOJ official worked for firm behind anti-Trump dossier. (By James Rosen, Jake Gibson | Fox News) — EXCLUSIVE: A senior Justice Department official demoted last week for concealing his meetings with the men behind the anti-Trump “dossier” had even closer ties to Fusion GPS, the firm responsible for the incendiary document, than have been disclosed, Fox News has confirmed: The official’s wife worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 election. Contacted by Fox News, investigators for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) confirmed that Nellie H. Ohr, wife of the demoted official, Bruce G. Ohr, worked for the opposition research firm last year. The precise nature of Mrs. Ohr’s duties – including whether she worked on the dossier – remains unclear but a review of her published works available online reveals Mrs. Ohr has written extensively on Russia-related subjects. HPSCI staff confirmed to Fox News that she was paid by Fusion GPS through the summer and fall of 2016.

7am – C         Is CNN Protecting Adam Schiff? Journalists continue to air his fact-free allegations without requiring evidence. (WSJ) — We’re certainly living in strange times when the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee is among the most media-friendly lawmakers in Washington. The times would be less strange if the media were a little less friendly in return. Since they are charged with overseeing America’s spy agencies, the members of the House and Senate intelligence committees are usually as tight-lipped a group of politicians as you’ll find. Each one takes an oath to protect the country’s secrets and is expected to take special care in protecting the classified information entrusted to them. That’s the hope anyway. In practice Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) rarely misses an opportunity to publicly characterize the non-public information that he claims to have seen. This raises the question of whether he’s violating the rules of the committee by discussing classified intelligence, or perhaps misleading the public about what he’s seen. Before giving him yet another platform to hurl allegations of treasonous behavior, journalists should first demand that he show up with some facts. For the better part of a year, Mr. Schiff has been teasing the public with claims of wrongdoing by his political adversaries, but refusing to back them up. Back in March, NBC News reported:     The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee claimed Wednesday evening that he has seen “more than circumstantial evidence” that associates of President Donald Trump colluded with Russia while the Kremlin attempted to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.

7am – D/E     INTERVIEW – DAN BONGINO – former Secret Service agent and author of new book “Protecting the President” AND Bongino worked with the New York City Police Department for four years – discussed the New York terror attack.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – TINA BROWN – founder of The Daily Beast and former editor of Vanity Fair, and author of new book “The Vanity Fair Diaries”

• TINA BROWN is an award-winning writer and editor and founder of the Women in the World Summit. Between 1979 and 2001 she was the editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. Her 2007 biography of the Princess of Wales, The Diana Chronicles, topped the New York Times bestseller list. In 2008 she founded The Daily Beast, which won the Webby Award for Best News Site in 2012 and 2013. Queen Elizabeth honored her in 2000 as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her services to overseas journalism, and in 2007 she was inducted into the U.S. Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame. She founded the Women in the World Summit in 2010 and launched Tina Brown Live Media in 2014 to expand Women in the World internationally. She is married to the editor, publisher, and historian Sir Harold Evans and lives in New York City.
• THE BOOK: “THE VANITY FAIR DIARIES: 1983-1992” by Tina Brown. Ms Brown literally scribbled entries into a blue school notebook during her years running Vanity Fair, excavating the notebooks years later, and compiling them for this book. Upon getting the job to run Vanity Fair in 1983, at the age of just 29, Englishwoman Brown’s introduction to the world of media in NYC was on the cab ride from Kennedy Airport, where she heard Dr Ruth on the radio describing how best to perform oral sex. When she took over Vanity Fair, it was tens of millions of dollars in the red, and had a circulation of 250,000.  When she left, she had doubled its ad pages, and increased circulation by one million.  She is credited there for performing the art of the mix, the perfect blend of high and low, Hollywood and high culture, clever fashion and Eurotrash, true crime and literary recollection. Turning point was in 1985, where Brown had scored for VF a photoshoot at the White House with Ronald and Nancy Reagan.  When the First Couple wearing black tie breezes into the room, the photographer starts playing a recording of Sinatra’s “Nancy (with a Laughing Face,” and the Reagan’s, taken aback, begin dancing.  And there’s a kiss.  And the photographer is clicking away.  The spread changes the magazine’s fortunes. The diaries include a great deal about office politics and Conde Nast, backstabbing, sucking-up, fear and loathing. She heaps praise on people she likes, and savages those she doesn’t.  Andy Warhol and Roy Cohn she calls “the two most amoral men of our times.”  Aging bad boy movie producer Robert Evans is the nearest thing to the devil. Donald Trump comes up often within the diaries.  One such entry, at a charity event at Tavern on the Green.  One of Brown’s writers, Marie Brenner, had done a piece on Trump where she reported he kept a book of Hitler’s speeches in his bedroom.  At this event, Trump walked behind the writer, and poured a glass of wine down her back.  She does believe that his fake news charges and war on the press is reviving journalism.

8am – B         WHITE HOUSE VS. MEDIA: Exchange between White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders & CNN’s Jim Acosta: “I’m not finished. There’s a very big difference between making honest mistakes and purposely misleading the American people.”

8am – C         CHRISTMAS NEWS:

• Trump-bashing CHELSEA HANDLER will be featured on NBC ‘Christmas Special’: Gwen Stefani’s “You Make Me Feel Like Christmas”: 9 p.m., NBC. Stefani and boyfriend Blake Shelton sang “You Make Me Feel Like Christmas” – the duet they helped write – on the show. And tonight – in a special that follows the “Voice” semi-finals – they’ll sing it again. She’ll also do Christmas classics – from the cheery “Jingle Bells” to the sexy “Santa Baby” – and have guest stars. They include Chelsea Handler, Ken Jeong (known for his roles as Ben Chang on the critically acclaimed NBC/Yahoo! sitcom Community and gangster Leslie Chow in The Hangover) , Seth McFarlane and Ne-Yo.
• NY City removes ‘kissletoe’ from Grand Central Station due to outcry.  NYC Removes ‘Kissletoe’ Due To Outcry From Women. New York City removed its mistletoe nicknamed “kissletoe” from Grand Central Station due to the outcry from women Friday. An organization named the” Grand Central Partnership” took down its mistletoe and signs reading “Pucker up!” due to the backlash, President Fred Cerullo told the The New York Post. Women believed that such signs would encourage unwanted advances from strangers, believing it a tone-deaf message in wake of the growing awareness for sexual misconduct in 2017. “Having the mistletoe up might give people ideas,” New Yorker Barbara Schwartz, 67, told The New York Post. “It’s a holiday tradition but given the conversation about sexual assault right now it’s bad timing,” added Sondra Rapoport of the Upper West Side.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – LARRY KUDLOW – CNBC Senior Contributor and host of The Larry Kudlow Show on WMAL Saturdays at 7 pm and author of “JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity” @larry_kudlow

8am – E         Seth Rogen To Play Walter Cronkite In ‘Newsflash;’ David Gordon Green-Helmed Pic On CBS JFK Assassination Coverage. (Deadline) – EXCLUSIVE: Seth Rogen is attached to play iconic CBS newsman Walter Cronkite in Newsflash, a Ben Jacoby-scripted drama that Stronger director David Gordon Green will direct next year. The film takes place on November 22, 1963, the day President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Texas. It was that day that television network news came of age, and Cronkite became the most trusted TV newsman voice of America, even if he wasn’t first to announce the president had died (NBC did that). This is a major step into dramatic fare for Rogen, a fixture in comedies who distinguished himself in the supporting role of Steve Wozniak in Jobs. It is a jump that has been made successfully by comic actors including Steve Carell and Rogen’s oft collaborator Jonah Hill. When Silverman gave the script to Green (they worked together on Warner Bros’ Our Brand Is Crisis), the filmmaker quickly suggested Rogen, whom he had directed in Pineapple Express. Green is currently shooting Halloween, and the plan is to shoot next spring, with an eye toward having the film ready for November 22, the 55th anniversary of JFK’s shooting death.